I Woke Up This Morning and My House Was On Fire! How a Cigarette Butt Almost Ruined My Day

Yes it’s true.  I woke up this morning and my house was on fire…well almost! 

Please pass this story along to any careless smoker you know.

This morning was a bit different than most.  While pouring water into the kettle for my tea, as I do every morning, I gazed out my kitchen window, and saw ten foot tall flames crackling and consuming the wooden fence which surrounds our property. The fire was about twenty feet from my apartment.

Watching in stunned amazement, I noticed my neighbor poke her head over the fence to get a look, and then she ran out of my view.  It was seven o’clock in the morning, and I’m in standing there in my slippers and shorts.  I look around in a panic, knowing there wasn’t a public hose downstairs to use, so I pulled the trash out of my plastic trash can (rubbish bin) and ran downstairs.

There is a spigot about ten feet away from the flames, so I filled up the trash can with as much water as I could carry, and walked toward the fence.  Then I noticed movement on the other side of the fence and realized my neighbor’s boyfriend was stalking the fire from the other side, with a fire extinguisher.  I stopped and put the can down; waiting to see the outcome…he blasted the fire in a huge white, dust cloud.

The cloud slowly cleared….then the fire ROARED back to life! 

I ran over to the burning fence, trying to see where the main part of the fire was.  The fence itself acted as protection from the heat, as the fire hadn’t yet burnt its way through this section.  One whole section had already been consumed.  I lifted the can, reaching as far over the flames as I could, and poured my heart out!  The water steamed and hissed as it doused the fire and was seared by the burning embers. 

The fire hissed back in anger, but went out in geyser of steam.  I quickly filled up the can again and poured a second time.  The steam filled the air with the smell of scorched wood and brick. 

This time though, we heard a strange and steady gurgling sound, and peered over the fence.

What looked and sounded like a natural spring was actually a natural gas pipeline.  It had melted, and the gas was gurgling and hissing out through the puddle of water and ash.  It reminded me of the natural  bubbling mud vents we saw in Rotorua, New Zealand.

The fire brigade showed up and asked us all to close our windows due to the gas leak.  They doused the burnt fence for thirty minutes before the emergency gas crew arrived.  You can see the repaired copper pipe in the photos.

It didn’t even hit me until later, just how close we came to being consumed by a natural gas explosion.  And it also wasn’t until later that I felt like a hero…

But that isn’t why I’m investing time in sharing this with you. 

Yes, this really happened to me, and I need your help to send this story to every smoker you know, because the whole thing was caused by a neighbor in an adjacent building, who smokes outside daily. 

Today he decided to flick yet another burning butt onto our property.

Except on this day, flicking a burning cigarette butt caused a fire that could have destroyed homes and killed people.

The fireman figured it must have smoldered for hours before igniting, which meant the cigarette was probably the last one of the night.  It was only sheer luck that we both noticed the fire before it grew out of control.  There are trees not shown in the photos that rise higher than our building.  They could’ve easily ignited, so again our timing was impeccable.

I’ve seen the guy leaning on the rail, taking his last drag and flicking the butt away like it was an Olympic event.  Just how far can he make it go?

What a loser…

I don’t care if you smoke, just don’t throw your frigging lit butts out the window!  It destroys nature and property and kills people…

Write On!

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